Laminated spool



man, 1923. l 1,445,931 v R. s. BoLGiv-:R

LAMINATED SPOOL l Flled Nov. 6, 1920 ljatented Feb. Z0, 1923.

Inarran stare@ .retenir ortica..

LAMINATED srooL.

Application filed November vTo all whom t may concern.'

.Be it known that I, Rosnn'r S. Bomann, a citizen' of the United States, and resident foi: Neiv York city, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in.

'Laminated Spools, of which the following is a specification'. i

My invention relates to improvements in the manufacture oi spools,l cops and similar articles' of the type whichy is formed of: .sheet material arranged in superposed layers.

.ln order .to avoid the excessive Waste and y.

' facture, such as smoothness and ,regularity "ot surface, freedom' from the ,tendency` to crack and split, andies'istance to moisture.

:In manufacturing'spoolso this type, however, it has heretofore been the universal practice so 1Jfar asl` am aware to employ a blankor blanks so lormed and proportioned'thatyvhen treatedavithlglue and 'rolled up, a spool ofthedesired contour is produced. The manufacture of spoolsby this method involves various problems re.- latingto :the handling' of blanks of various irregular shapes, fand, to the devising;A oi' mechanism for rolling' such blanks into 'torm, These problems present substantial difficulty in the desigiii'ng oit'a suitable machines, particularly when high quantity productionv and a minimum` of detective spools isvrequired. f

An important object of my `invention is yto provide methodv of 'manufacturing laminated spoo'lsfroin sheet material which will Yeliminate the problems incident to -han- Adling the type of blank "heretofore 'employed 'In a` general Way, I accomplish this obj ect by constructingva cylinder from sheet "material ini any of the various Well-known Ways', andthen 'forming a `spool or spools vfrom the cylinderby removing suitableportions thereof.Vv l

e, i920. serial No. 423,370.-

Another object of myA invention is to 'produce` a plurality ofi spools Vfrom a lsingle blank. I accomplishk this object byA employing a cylinder of substantial length', from Which a plurality of-spoolsmay be-manuactured, With but a single rolling and gluing operation to produce the cylinder.

' A principal advantage Vof this general 'method resides'in the `fact-that machines for manufacturing -cylinders "from: sheety material, particularly from paperfpasteboard and the ,like, are Well kknown and thorvoughly developed; and 'such v'cylinders may be produced very rapidly and 'cheaply by` standardmachinery. vf'Furthermore, mechanism'or forming the cylinder intousp'ools may be of very simple, rapid-acting and vefcient construction.

In constructing spools 4from sheet terial :by the methods heretofore known and above outlined, the blanks were' necessarily .Wound substantially at .lright y angles to the spools This necessarily resulted' Iin ridges at the points\vliere lthe beginning and end of the blank overlaythejadjacentk lamination. `A The onlyknown Way'to avoid such ridgesis to Wind thefsheet helicallyabout the axis at such an angle thatiadjacent edges `of the sheet 'will abut;.but this construction necessitates: a separate sheet 'forl each 44lamination, which is obviously impractical with' the struction. y l y Another object of'myfinvention is'to provide a spool madeffroml sheet'material, which is'ree from theterminal ridgesof former method ofcon'- keo -tlie7earlier construction; land a particu-lar 'object is to accomplish-this result by .i for-ming` ak spool from helically Wound sheet mat'erial. Spools of this type `v`would be' impractical to manufact-ure separately, butare very conveniently manufactured by "my improved method ahove indicated, yiniivhich the cylindermay list be v-'Inanutacturedfrom helically wound' sheetsa'-v the spools being.

thereafter formed'fromthe completedcylvinder.-

Another -objectrotmy invention, which is collateral to-ithosejustmentioned, is. to provide a continuous process for 'manufacturing laminated. spools 4'from sheet ymaterial. A process in i'vhichthe bl-ankisrolled at right angles to the axis is almost necessarily discontinuous, sincel theblanks must' be` severed across the. direction of' blank supply." I'Wher'e,

however, .a cylinder is first constructed yby helical winding, and then formed into spools, the cylinder manufacture can be continuous and the spools may be made and cut o from the cylinder as it is formed. @ther objects and advantages of my improved construction will be apparent from the following description, taken in connecin forming successive spoolsbeing indicated by dot-and-dash lines,

Fig. 4: is a transverse section -along lines lf-4 of Fig. l,

Fig. 5 is a side elevation ot a straightwound spool,

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a helicalwound spool,

F 7 is an end view ofastraight-wound spool, and i 4 Fig. 8 is an end elevation of a helicalwound spool.

In practicing my improved method, l iirst construct a cylinder lO of suitable thickness,

having an outside diameter at least equal yto the diameter of the largest spool to be ormed, from suitable sheet material such as paperycardboardor other substances which possess suiiicient flexibility and hardness to serve the purpose. The cylinder l0 may be of -any desired length, equal to or greater than the length of the iinished spool; but in the preferred form I employ a cylinder many times the length of a single spool, so that a large numberof spools may be formed from a single cylinder.

Various methods of constructing the cylinder may he employed, as is well known to those skilled in the art, either the direct rolling method illustrated in the cylinder of Fig. l, or the helical method shown best in F ig. 3, being adapted `for my purpose; though my invention obviously is not restricted to these two specific methods of constructing the cylinder. The superposed laminations of the cylinder are firmly rconnected to each other by adhesive to form a coherent structure, sov that the laminations of the finished spool will not tend to separate. A n

I next form Athespool from the cylinder y by cutting away portionsr of the cylinder surface to produce the desired shape.` Various methods of rcutting may be employed,

the preferred orm indicated inthe drawings including the employment oit grinding wheels suitably contoured to cut into the face ot the cylinder. rl`he excising process may be completed in one step by employing single cutter of the desired form;v but to produce .a well-finished product and increase the capacity ot the machine, Successive cutters may be employed, as in Fig. l, it being yunderstood that the cylinderA is. shifted to the right into engagement with successive cutters 1l and l2. In the form shown, these cutters are proper shaped After the cylinder surface has been properly cut away, and where'the cylinder is of a length greater than that of a single spool, the finished spool adjacenty the end of the cylinder is cut oihthe lconstruction shown in Fig. l including a saw 13 movable relative to the cylinder and so located that it will cut accurately between adjacent spools. For the purpose of supporting the cylinder against the lateral thrust of the grinding and cutting mechanism, l may employ a suitable mandrel lei extending into the end of the cylinder, the remainder of the cylinder being supported in any desired way.r

One problem connected with the shaping and severing of laminated cylinders of paper or similar material is the fact that rotating cutting or abrading means would tend to strip the successive laminations from eachl other, unless the direction of rotation of said means is such that its contact with the cylinder will be in the direction oi"I winding of the laminations. This problem does `grinding wheels of the well-known type.

not arise in wood-turning, but is particularly important in producing a finished product ci' the typedisclosed herein.

ln the form shown in Fig. l, the cylinder has been wound in a clockwise direction viewed from the lett end of the figure'. The Y grinding wheels 1l and l2 and the saw 13 therefore also rotate in a clockwise direction viewed from the same point. To provide uniform action on allsides et the cylinder, the latter maybe moved in al clockwiseV direction as indicated by the arrow at the left, or in the opposite direction, provided the 'speed of the cutting mechanism is substantially greater than that of the cylinder so that the movements between the-cylinder and cutting mechanism will. be in the direction of cylinder formation.

In the specii'ic construction disclosed. l have provided for a cylinder of considerable length which is 'fed step by step to the right methods of'gang manufacture or of indi-` vidual spool manufacture, mayobviously `be substituted within the range of my broad idea. Howevei, the particular method shown is especially 'advantageous in connection with machines for producing helicalwound cylinders of the type'shown in Figs. 3, 6 and 8, which-manufacture the cylinder continuously and feed it to the right from the machine. This permits continuous formation and separation of spools from the cylinder without arresting the operation of the apparatus to insert new cylinders.

The spool produced by my improved process, shown best in Figures 4 to 8 inclusive, may obviously have any desired contour, this being determined by the shape of the cutting elements 11 and 12. The spool shown is of the ordinary type used for thread, including the central barrel 15 and the end flanges 16. In the form shown in Figs. Ll, 5 and 7, which are made from a straight-wound cylinder, it will be apparent that the entire spool is formed from a single blank of sheet inateriahwhile in the spool of Figs. 6 and 8, both the barrel 15 and the flanges 16 are composed of a number of superposed, adhesive-ly connected portions of sheet material. Regardless of whether the spool is made of one oi' of many separate sheet portions, however, the spool has substantially the same' characteristics, and is readily manufactured from practically any type of laminated cylinder.

While, I have described the preferred forms of my invention and indicated certain variations therein', it will be apparent that many other changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. For instance, a large number of changes in the method of manufacture are possible, as

well as in the finished contour of the spool,`

depending upon the method of manufacture used and the type of spool which is desired.

I claim:

1. The method of manufacturing laminated spools which consists in winding sheet material helically to form a laminated cylinder having a plurality of spirally woundV layers' of an aggregative thickness sufficient for forming the body of a spool, in eXcising poi'- tions of said cylinder so formed to provide a spool formation with itsl central barrel and end flange portions and in severing the spool formation from the said cylinder.

` 2. The method of manufacturing laminated' spools which consists in winding sheet matenated spools which consists in winding sheet material helically to .form a continuous laini'natedcylinder having a plurality of spirally wound layers of an aggregative thickness suiiicient for forming the body of the spool, in excising successive Zones of said cylinder so formedto provide spool forniav tions r each with its central'barrel and endl flanges and severing the spool formations from the said cylinder.

A. laminated spoolmade of sheet material and composed of sheet layers wound in helical formation and providing a barrel and end flanges having spirally wound laminations.

A laniiiiatedspool made -by'winding sheet material helically along an axis and comprising a barrel and end flanges having spirally wound laminations.

Signed at New York city in the county of N ew York and State of New York this 22nd e i day of'October, A. D. 1920.

\ ROBERT S. BOLGER. 

